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Brief analysis on Vivaldi's Gloria

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Vivaldi and his Gloria (Mass)

Antonio Vivaldi

  • ginger Priest
  • composer
  • virtuosic violinist
  • worked in a girls orphanage in Venice

Gloria

  • instruments: harpsichord, strings, trumpet, oboe
  • Vivaldi uses trumpet differently - more elegant
  • not very complicated
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Difference Between Vivaldi's Gloria and Handle's M

Vivaldi's Gloria

  • uses trumpet more elegantly than in Handle's Messiah
  • less complicated than Handle's Messiah
  • uses an oboe

Handle's Messiah

  • trumpet in Messiah is more fanfare than Vivaldi's Gloria
  • more complicated than Vivaldi's Gloria
  • doesn't use an oboe
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Gloria In Excelsis Deo

Gloria In Excelsis Deo

  • D major
  • allegro - fast tempo
  • originally for S,A,T,B

Analysis

  • starts f - emphatic opening
  • lower piano part plays octaves - strong and loud
  • b. 2 moves up in semiquavers by step to leading note then moves by step back down
  • b. 3 repeated bass pattern returns
  • b. 4 higher piano part moves in major 3rds
  • b. 17 voices enter with dotted rhythm - creates a joyful feel
  • b. 17 homophonic texture
  • b. 19-21 antiphony between full choir and orchestra - punctuates what choir is doing
  • b. 28 orchestra has faster rhythm
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Gloria In Excelsis Deo c

  • b. 28 choir grandios - moves in step
  • b. 29 orchestra has constant quavers - helps move piece along
  • b. 33 trumpet and oboe helps help to provide support
  • b. 36 fanfare motif enters in trumpets
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Et In Terra Pax Hominibu

Et In Terra Pax Hominibus

  • B minor - relative minor of mvt. 1 - nice link
  • Et In Terra Pax Hominibus - peace on earth for all humanity
  • andante - walking pace - relevant to name
  • 3/4 metre - lilting feel
  • sombre feel

Analysis

  • starts mf - quieter than mvt. 1
  • b. 1 quavers still a feature
  • b. 9-13 1st idea
  • b. 9 canonic/imitative voice entries - p dynamics
  • not a fuge - but 30 fugal entries - shows how difficult it is to have peace
  • b. 18-23 2nd idea
  • b. 34-45 contrast between choir and orchestra in rhythmic ideas - represents no cohesion/feel of uneasiness
  • final bar doesn't resolve - symbolises how getting peace is never-ending
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Pa

Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris

  • Alto solo - would've been sung by a girl in the orphanage - now sung by a male counter-tenor
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Cum Sancto Spiritu

Cum Sancto Spiritu

  • D major (back to)
  • fugue
  • written for S,A,T,B
  • has 2 main ideas - overlap
  • bouncy

Analysis

  • 4/2 - common in Baroque period - not now
  • b. 1 opening subject enters in tonic
  • b. 3 counter subject - played whole way through before counter subject comes in
  • b. 6 answer to counter subject - 1st subject returns - always comes on dominant
  • b. 6 should have a C# to imitate 1st subject but has B - is tonal answer instead - altered to fit harmony
  • b. 7 counter subject returns for second time
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Vivaldi's Gloria (Mass) - Cum Sancto Spiritu conti

  • b. 17 instrumental interlude
  • b. 25 counter subject returns for the fourth time
  • b. 28 1st subject returns for fifth time - tonal answer
  • b. 30 counter subject returns for fifth time
  • b. 36 starts off as 'real' 1st subject
  • b. 37 stretto - counter melody comes in before 1st subject has finished - adds intensity
  • b. 39 no rest between counter subjects - straight after the last
  • b. 55-56 imitative entries
  • b. 69 seriously altered counter subject - adds excitement
  • b. 72 1st subject tonal answer
  • b. 73 both melodic ideas come in together - homophonic - doubling makes it stronger
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